Integrated Health and Environment Observatories and legal and institutional strengthening for the Sound Management of chemicals in Africa (African ChemObs), Project Formulation Regional Workshop

The project formulation regional workshop provided an opportunity to review progress made in the nine countries in Africa to develop national baseline analyses and assessment reports and to facilitate the harmonization and work towards the project formulation and the completion of the GEF CEO Endorsement Template to be submitted in June 2016. In the UNEP GEF presentation, countries were advised to identify “low hanging fruits”. That is, issues requiring immediate attention such as the identification and disposal of POPs. They were to use risk of acute exposure as an important criterion for prioritizing interventions. It was highlighted that the GEF had put a condition for acceptance of the ChemObs project (The removal and disposal of at least 1000 tons of POPs). For chronic exposure situations, through the ChemObs project, countries could develop strategies that would lead to projects (e.g. plastics recycling to deals with the issue of burning of plastics). When fully developed, the chemical observatories will assist countries link health impact data to the use of chemicals. The main objectives of the project were to predict, prevent and reduce exposures from chemicals. Community and private industry involvement were stated as an important feature in the monitoring and surveillance of chemicals. Civil society engagement was to be free of government interference.